In The Doghouse

Good morning and welcome in.  Today we are going to take a look at a passage of scripture from 2 John but before we do that, I wanted to tell you a little story

Many years ago, our family was babysitting one of our neighbors dogs.  She was a vivacious husky who enjoyed playing in the snow.  One cold morning I rose up out of bed because I saw her bolt by the house which wasn’t a normal thing for her to do.  Afterwards when I went outside, I saw  a huge black bear with its head stuck all of the way inside of her dog house.  Because of her reaction,he was a completely unwelcome visitor in her home.

This reminds me of the Christian Life

There are sometimes in life that we need to pull in the welcome mat.  Doing this doesn’t necessarily mean that we don’t care or love others, it means that we love Jesus and his teachings more.

2 John 1:9-11  Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.

The word doctrine is defined as “teachings” or a belief, or set of beliefs that are held and taught by a church. Doctrine is a set of ideas or beliefs that are taught and believed to be true.

Love for Christ and his Word has to be a greater love than any love that you could possess in this world. Love for Him and His teachings must be be greater than a wife, children or any possessions that this world could ever offer you.  Those who reject scriptural truth are the enemy of Jesus Christ.

John 14:23-24  Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.  He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me.

We are not supposed to receive people into our homes who don’t share our beliefs, or the teachings of Jesus Christ.  When you receive someone it means to welcome them.  There are many ways that you can receive teaching and instruction in your home, through a newspaper, a magazine, TV, and more recently on the internet or through a cell phone.

This is both a scriptural command and a warning from the dearly beloved Apostle John. Opening up the door of your home to somebody who doesn’t share your faith in Christ can affect and influence all those who dwell within. By opening the door to them, you are inviting all kinds of false religions, philosophy and worldly beliefs right into the privacy of your own living room.  Those who wholeheartedly reject the doctrinal teachings of Christ wIll be summarily sentenced to eternal damnation.  

As a Christian, whatever teaching you allow into your home needs to be bible based and Christ centered otherwise shut the front door.  The Apostle clearly  teaches to not allow anti biblical teachings to enter inside. As a child how many times were you told to take off your shoes before you came in the house?  If your parents didn’t want your muddy shoes in the living room why would you bring in worldly philosophy and anti-Christ Doctrine?

Teaching can be a very profitable profession, but many people teach, not because they genuinely care about others, or want then to grow in biblical truth, it is simply motivated by a greedy and covetous heart.

Titus 1:10-11  For there are many unruly and vain talkers and deceivers, specially they of the circumcision: Whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre’s sake.

There is a lot of false teaching that goes on in the world today, many of them profess to be a follower of Jesus, but the Apostle John taught that if they were outside of the doctrine of Christ and what He taught, these people were to be rejected, shunned and not to be believed.  

1 John 4:1 – Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.

False teachings can lead people astray from the truth

Hebrews 13:9 – Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines…….

Ephesians 4:14 – That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;

When it comes to it, there are times when the safest and best thing any of us can do, is kindly shut the door, and don’t let a bear…..

……In the Doghouse.

Let’s think about these things for right now. We can be found on your web browser by searching, tlkjbc where you can find our diaries distributed through various platforms. We are not associated, nor affiliated with any other religious groups. You can get our entire podcast feeds directly, along with transcripts at tlkjbc.com or I suppose that you could find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods. Peace to you all, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody.

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